D’IBERVILLE, Miss. - Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser is joining forces with the Mississippi Sound Coalition to prevent more damage to coastal waters.
It’s a mission to keep the Bonnet Carre Spillway from opening and comes as seafood industries across the coast are suffering after the spillway opened in 2019 resulting in a toxic algae bloom that sent large amounts of fresh water through the Mississippi Sound, killing species like oysters and shrimp.
Nungesser expressed his support for the Mississippi Sound Coalition during a July 17 luncheon in D’Iberville.
He said a deeper Mississippi River is another factor that could keep the Spillway from getting opened.
"Dredge the river and deepen it all the way,” Nungesser said. “Give us more storage increase trade with a deeper river, and we wouldn’t have to open the spillway as much."
Brian Gollott, co-owner of Gollotts Seafood in D’Iberville, said ships have been moored to his docks for a long time because finding shrimp is more difficult because of two spillway openings in 2019.
He sees no sense for fishermen to burn fuel while dragging big shrimp trawls and the "not having enough catch to pay for the fuel.”
Federal officials ruled the freshwater floods were a commercial fishery failure in June. It’s Mississippi’s fourth fisheries declaration in 13 years.
State officials said this declaration is aimed at restoring impacts that will persist years after the region first got money from the spillway impacts. (WLOX 07/17/23) Louisiana Lt. Governor, Mississippi Sound Coalition joining to prevent more damage to coastal waters (wlox.com)
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